In this paper, the project of Wembley Stadium is analysed in the context of project management. It has been determined that the project was a failure because the project manager was incompetent. He did not have the necessary skills or abilities required for completing the project in an efficient manner. For instance, forecasting of budget was ineffective and there was no analysis or identification of delays. Similarly, there was no quality management in the project and due to it, satiable results were not produced. All of these mistakes and issues contributed to the failure and due to it, a lot of money was invested in the project.

1.0 Introduction of Wembley Stadium and Project Management

In general, project management refers to the application of experience, knowledge, skills, methods, and processes for achieving specific project goals and objectives in accordance with the criteria of project acceptance within predetermined parameters. In simple words, project management has some certain deliverables that are limited to a finite budget and timescale. A key element that differentiates project management from simple management is that it has finite timespan and specific deliverable, unlike management that is a continuous and consistent process. Due to it, a wide range of technical skills and abilities are required by a project management for ensuring that the project is managed in an effective manner and it accomplishes the desired project objectives (Burke, 2013). In this case, the project of Wembley Stadium will be analysed and it will be determined which project management aspects contributed to its failure or success.

2.0 Wembley Stadium of Wembley Stadium and Project Management

English Football Association is the owner of Wembley Stadium and it was being managed and handled by a subsidiary of FA, WNSL or Wembley National Stadium Limited. Actually, it was a project of quite a high budget and there occurred several delays due to a number of reasons uncertainties from the project management team. In the perception of people, the project might be elegant and this might be true but there are a lot of problems that occurred in the management of project. These problems were quite large and a lot of money was lost due to these mistakes. In general, a project is the collection of efforts aimed at developing a unique service or product. It is important to note that every project has a certain end. A project seems to range in time, cost, scope, and dimension. For instance, it can be large enough to cost a million and it can be small enough to cost only a thousand (Kerzner, 2017).

It is important for the project manager to ensure that the project results meet the expectations and needs of stakeholders. For accomplishing this objective, the project manager should analyse the expectations and needs of stakeholders for defining the purpose, objectives, and scope of the work (Kerzner & Saladis, 2011).

Considering the scope of project like Wembley Stadium, it was critical for the project to be managed by an eligible project management team and experienced operators.

3.0 Project Management Aspects of Wembley Stadium and Project Management

This project will be analysed with respect to Competencies of Project Manager and Project Quality Management.

3.1 Competencies of Project Manager of Wembley Stadium and Project Management

One of the largest mistakes made by FA was to let the subsidiary organisation, WNSL, manage the project rather than letting independent project managers with experience manage the project. It caused some significant problems later on. For instance, in 2006, it was announced by the management team that there would be a delay in the completion of project. A number of board members lost confidence in the management of WNSL for managing the construction company, Multiplex in an effective manner and the company pulled pressure on the constructions organisation for finishing the project on the predicted or expected date.

In general, it is very important for the project manager to be competent. First of all, the project manager must have effective execution skills. It means that the manager should understand and know how to execute different processes and procedures for the achievement of desired goals within a specific time-frame. In addition to it, the manager must have effective decision making skills so that in difficult situations, he can make just the right decisions for ensuring the deliverables meet the needs of stakeholders. Similar to this ability, there are many other competencies which must be possessed by the project manager so that the project can be completed in an efficient manner. In the case of Wembley Stadium, the project manager was not efficient or competent, and it resulted in the failure of project (Evans, 2005).

In general, the time is expected and calculated for a project to be finished or completed is quite a serious element, as except the cost that increases due to delays, it is also about the confidence that is developed by it within the community. This project had to initiate in 2000 and it was predicted to finish in 2003. However, the project manager was unable to handle disagreements and financial issues over the stakeholders. Thus, the project experienced significantly delays and it was initiated by the end of 2002. The second opening that was seemingly announced on 2006, it was also delayed. Just as it had been expected by people, the stadium was not properly ready and this time due to several problems that were not identified by the manager. The project was completed in 2007, which is four years after the predetermined time of completion. If these delays had not occurred then significant income would have been earned by the project (Meredith, et al., 2017).

Another mistake made by the project manager is concerned with the budget. Generally, budget represents the estimated amount that will be required for the project to be completed. It is possible to modify budgets during the project development, even though it is strongly recommended and suggested to stick to the predetermined budget for the project as they change will seemingly influence decisions that are already made about the project. For major projects like this one, because of high budget required, it was very important for the project manager to forecast the budget in an accurate manner. In the Wembley project, the forecast of project manager was far from being accurate. In fact, the forecast was wide off the target. In 1998, the old stadium had been bought for 120 million pounds whereas only a year after, the project management team determined that the cost of construction will be approximately 332 million pounds. Thus, this budget was fixed but when a decision had not been given from the government, it served to increase the budget to 757 million pounds, which is almost the double the primary determined amount. Once the government gave approval, there were not sufficient funds (Wysocki, 2011).

3.2 Project Quality Management of Wembley Stadium and Project Management

In the domain of project management, quality refers to the amount or degree towards which a project manager or project team fulfils some specific requirements. In simple words, quality management is a strategy or technique that is implemented for assuring that an awareness about quality is incorporated into every phase of project to completion from conception. Actually, for the Wembley project, there are a number of indications which indicate insufficient and lack of quality in project from the beginning to the very end and even till now. The first facts of low quality had been shown when without knowing the actual cost of the project, the team signed a contract with the construction organisation.

For ensuring quality, it is important for the project management team to ensure that some specific standards are set and these standards are met for the production of satiable results. These standards or some predetermined requirements are always met for making sure that the project is not only completed within the specific budget and timeframe. However, in this case, it would not be wrong to say that quality management was lacking. In fact, the project management team was not as efficient as it should have been. Standards and predetermined requirements were not set or met which did not enable the team to produce the desired outcomes (Moore, 2013).

4.0 Conclusion of Wembley Stadium and Project Management

Overall, it can be said that Wembley Stadium project was a failure and the lack of a competent project management and quality management contributed significantly to this failure. Both of these aspects are considered very important when it comes to the successful completion and delivery of a project. However, these aspects were not focused upon in this project and this became the reason of failure of the project. For instance, first of all, the project manager did not effectively determine and forecast the project budget. Due to it, the predetermined budget seemed to double and because of the lack of competency of project manager, there were significant delays in the completion of project. It was determined that the project would be completed in 2003. However, because the analysis and forecasting were inefficient, the project was completed in 2007, four years after the predetermined date. The lack of quality management further contributed to the failure because no standards or predetermined requirements were met which could improve the results.